


19 Years and Ticking

by sunnysidedown



Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Drama, Gen, Inner battles, Reality check
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-20
Updated: 2015-08-29
Packaged: 2018-04-10 06:15:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,332
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4380386
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sunnysidedown/pseuds/sunnysidedown
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Naruto Uzumaki was 19 years old and already having a quarter-life crisis. In just under a year, he will be doomed to living a normal, boring, average life just like the rest of the world. Nothing exciting ever happens after 20 and Naruto wanted excitement. He wanted magic, adventure, thrill. Too bad this was reality.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Another Day

**Author's Note:**

> This will be three chapters long.

            19 years, 1 month, 3 weeks, 2 days, 6 hours, 38 minutes, 19…20…21 seconds old.

            Naruto’s alarm went off. Immediately an arm shot out of the messy cocoon of blankets and hit snooze. Five minutes later and five minutes older Naruto got out of bed to get ready for work. After a trip to the bathroom he dug a crisp white button down from his closet and picked out a tasteful holiday tie. The five minutes of extra sleep meant that he did not have enough time to sit down and eat. He stuck two pieces of bread in the toaster and poured a cup of premade coffee from the fancy coffee maker that he got from Kiba on his last birthday. The toast popped up just as Naruto finished tying his shoes. He stuck both pieces of unbuttered toast in his mouth, grabbed his briefcase and coffee, and was out the door speed walking to catch the 7 o’clock train to Northern Konoha.

            The winter day was overcast and warm. Naruto was glad because halfway to the station he realized he forgot his suit jacket. Luckily he always kept a spare at the office for occasions like this one. Naruto smiled at all the winter decorations he passed. Christmas was fast approaching and with every passing day the air grew thicker with holiday cheer. This was Naruto’s favorite part of the year. It also gave him an excuse to wear his collection of holiday ties to work.

            When Naruto says work, he actually meant unpaid internship for Konoha Incorporated. It was a once in a lifetime opportunity for the college sophomore or so says Naruto’s academic advisor and his professors and his parents and even his friends. When his advisor suggested the internship, Naruto had no choice but to apply. So here he was now taking an hour commute to a job where he has the same duties as a normal employee except he doesn’t get paid and he has to fetch coffee. At least he gets a college credit out of it. But unfortunately, only one.

            Naruto arrived at Konoha Incorporated five minutes early. He headed straight for the coffee makers to start on the first round of coffee for the day. Kakashi liked his coffee black. Gai insisted he wanted his black, not to be out done by Kakashi, but Naruto saw him sneak sugar in his coffee so Naruto has begun to do it for him. Asuma liked the hazelnut roast. Kurenai like a little milk in hers. The list went on.

            Naruto enjoyed his job for the most part. His coworkers were decent people who did not abuse Naruto for coffee or for other menial tasks and the internship would look great on his resume. But some days he’d catch himself staring out the window daydreaming about a life with more excitement. Naruto felt like he was running out of time. Here he was nineteen years old. He was almost past the age where exciting things were supposed to happen. He never received a mysterious letter in the mail for wizard school, he didn’t develop strange powers at sixteen, and he was basically done with puberty. It was getting too close to official that Naruto’s life was fated to be normal, average, boring. The only real chance he had left was when he turned twenty and that was already stretching it.

            Naruto wondered if maybe that was why the drinking age was twenty-one in Konoha. Because that’s when those who were truly optimistic, who really wanted to _believe_ in _something_ , finally opened their eyes to the real world. The world really isn’t filled with magic and adventure. All the childhood naivety about Santa Claus and the Tooth Fairy and superheroes and wizards, bull-fucking-shit. Everyone was doomed to some normal, boring life. But Naruto didn’t want that. He wanted excitement. He wanted to fight dragons and go on secret missions. He didn’t want to be like everyone else, to be forgotten a few generations after he died. He wanted to be a legend.

            The coffee maker beeped and Naruto began to pour and deliver coffee to his coworkers’ desks.

 

* * *

 

            Just after lunch break, Naruto was assigned the task of making information folders for an upcoming meeting. Naruto signed as he collected the needed supplies and headed towards his work area. He gathered the required papers together, stapled them, and then stuffed them in a folder. He had to make fifty.

            By the third folder, Naruto was already on autopilot. Gather, staple, stuff, repeat. About a third of the way done, he ran out of staples. As Naruto got up to get more staples, he decided that he might as well get the mail too as it was one of his regular duties to perform after lunch. He could use something a little more stimulating than gather, staple, stuff, repeat.

            Naruto actually liked getting the mail, well in comparison to his other duties. He had yet to memorize the order of the mailboxes so the hunt for names was a little exciting. Also trying to guess what were in packages when those came was fun too, though most of the time it was more paperwork just in fancier packaging.

            Some days Naruto pretended he was an assassin, the name his mission, the envelope his weapon, the mailbox his target. Naruto smiled as he hit his targets with deadly precision.

             “Naruto! I more need coffee!” a Kakashi whined under a stack of papers, successfully jolting Naruto out of his thoughts.

            “Yes sir,” Naruto replied immediately. He threw his last weapon and headed for the coffee machines.

 

* * *

 

            When Naruto was 19 years, 1 month, 3 weeks, 2 days, 15 hours, 38 minutes, 19…20…21 seconds old, his work day ended.

            Naruto was drained. Not in the physical, workout-too-much way, but in the didn’t-move-around-enough way, like when he sometimes sleeps for twelve hours and still wakes up tired.

            The train ride home was spent staring out the window. The sky was still overcast. The weather report said it was suppose to snow. Naruto stared blindly at the familiar grey landscape beyond the train windows. He watched as the tall, narrow city buildings morphed into the squat, spread out suburb houses. Nine stops later, Naruto got off the train, one stop ahead of his. Waiting for him at the bottom of the platform was one Sasuke Uchiha, bundled up to the max with a coat, scarf, hat, and gloves to guard against the cold. Their eyes locked and Sasuke nodded and smirked under his scarf. Naruto rolled his eyes and jogged to his side.

            “What was that look for, bastard?” Naruto asked as he playfully bumped his shoulder against Sasuke’s as they began to walk in the direction of one of their usual restaurants in the area. Today dinner was going to be Chinese food.

            “I was just thinking that you forgot your suit jacket again this morning,” Sasuke’s face was mostly blank but the slight crinkle around his eyes told Naruto that he was amused.

            Naruto was taken aback. “H-how’d you know? Are you psychic?” Naruto gave Sasuke a scrutinizing once over. Honestly, Naruto wouldn’t have been surprised if Sasuke were psychic. He had that all-seeing air about him.

            This time Sasuke rolled his eyes. “They don’t match, moron.”

            “What! They totally do. Both are black!” Naruto said as he examined his suit jacket and dress pants.

            “No. Your pants are black and your jacket is charcoal.”

            “Why does that even matter?” Naruto didn’t understand where Sasuke was going with this. Even if the ‘blacks didn’t match’ it was still okay to wear together, right?

            “What I’m trying to say is that you should wear an actual coat outside. If you haven’t noticed, it’s currently winter. Looking at you makes me cold.”

            “That’s what this is about? You know I don’t get cold easily! I don’t need a coat.” Naruto said stubbornly. “You probably have to wear so many clothes because you’re such a cold bastard.” Naruto stuck his tongue out and Sasuke pushed him over.

            Their banter continued to the restaurant and throughout their meal. On the walk back to their apartments, Naruto’s hand bumped Sasuke’s gloved one and their fingers interlaced. The night grew colder and the first flakes of snow began to fall. Naruto shivered as a gust of wind blew and whipped away the warm cloud surrounding him.

            “See I told you, you’d get cold,” Sasuke stopped and smirked.

            Naruto stopped too. “It was just the wind! I’m not cold.”

            “Hn.”

            Naruto was about to say something else when Sasuke’s scarf was looped around his neck. Sasuke pulled on the ends to bring Naruto closer to his body.

            “Same time tomorrow?” Sasuke asked his breath on Naruto’s face. He leaned forward and placed his forehead against Naruto’s.

            Naruto smiled and leaned up to give Sasuke a small goodbye kiss on the lips, “Yeah.”

            Sasuke’s stepped back and finished tying his scarf around Naruto. “Wear a actual coat tomorrow, idiot.”

            “Yeah whatever, bastard.”

            Naruto and Sasuke parted ways. Naruto to his apartment and Sasuke to his a couple blocks in the opposite direction. When Naruto got home he stayed up for a few more hours before heading to bed. He had work again tomorrow.

 

* * *

 

            19 years, 1 month, 3 weeks, 3 days, 6 hours, 38 minutes, 19…20…21 seconds old.

            Naruto’s alarm went off.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about the messed up tenses that I know are there. I haven't proofread this besides basic wording and even then it wasn't very thorough. I'll look through it better when I actually finish the whole thing. I already have the skeletons of the next two chapters, I just have to add the guts and flesh. This will probably be 3k-5k words long. I'm not very wordy.  
> Soooo what do y'all think? Interesting? Boring? Eeeeh...?  
> Anyway thank you for reading.


	2. Another Life

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I gave up on indenting and adding line breaks. Hopefully it doesn't mess up somehow.

19 years, ? month, ? weeks, ? days, ? hours, ? minutes, ? seconds old.

“NARUTO!”

Naruto bolted awake to the familiar voice that definitely should not be in his room waking him up. “Sakura? Good morning?”

“Don’t ‘Good morning’ me! You’re late!” Sakura yelled and started to pull at Naruto’s blankets.

“Late?” Naruto frowned and looked at his alarm clock. It was a 6:30am on a Saturday. He was sure he didn’t have any plans. He couldn’t exactly remember what he did yesterday – Alarm, food, train…? – but he knew he wanted to sleep until at least noon. He must have went out after work. His head kind of hurt a little.

 “You couldn’t have forgotten,” Sakura started when Naruto didn’t seem to be making an effort to move. “Lady Tsunade would kill you, is probably going to kill you. We have a mission briefing that started half an hour ago. We’re not Kakashi. We can’t be late to these things.”

“Mission…” Naruto’s eyes glazed over. Mission… That’s right. Naruto was a ninja. He was out late last night because of a mission and he had another one that morning. Naruto’s eyes refocused and he gave Sakura an apologetic look as he sprung out of bed. “I’ll be in Granny’s office in thirty seconds.”

 

Naruto arrived at the Hokage tower in twenty seconds. As he entered through the window he dodged a hefty looking book that came flying towards him. He stared at the window for a moment and heard a loud thump and a startled shout from below.

In the room, Tsunade sat in her chair hand still poised in book throwing position, Shizune stood beside her carrying Tonton in her arms. Sasuke looked bored standing in front of Tsunade’s desk and Sakura was at attention to his right. Naruto walked more into the room and stood to Sasuke’s left.

“Ah, now that you’ve finally graced us with your presence Naruto, I’ll begin the briefing.” Tsunade nodded and the three ninja accepted folders from Shizune. “You’ve all heard of the Kyuubi no Yoko, correct?”

Tsunade received two quick nods and one blank stare.

“Naruto! We learned about this how many times in school?”

“It’s okay Sakura,” Tsunade mollified and fixed and exasperated gaze onto Naruto. “The Kyuubi no Yoko is a monster that attacked Konoha about two decades ago. He almost destroyed the village completely, but the late Yondaime was the one to drive him off, unfortunately costing his life. After his attack the Kyuubi no Yoko disappeared into the forests on the outskirts of the Land of Fire. He hasn’t been a problem until now. Villages on the outskirts have been reporting strange chakra in the air. I want you three to investigate and if necessary, eliminate the Kyuubi no Yoko. Any questions?”

No one moved.

“Alright then. You leave at once.”

The three ninja in front of Tsunade’s desk immediately disappeared.

 

A half-day out of Konoha Naruto slowed as he noticed Sakura’s worried expression. “What’s wrong Sakura?” he asked.

“It’s just that…” Sakura began as she slowed down even further, stopping in a small clearing. “I’ve heard rumors about ninjas from other countries trying to take down the Kyuubi no Yoko. None have ever come back. If it took the Yondaime’s life to drive off the beast, how would we ever be a match?”

“Don’t be silly Sakura! Those are just rumors!” Naruto replied. “Even if they were true, we’re stronger than any ninja from any other country! Believe it! Right, Sasuke?”

“Hn,” replied Sasuke in neither agreement nor disagreement.

Naruto knit his brows at Sasuke’s neutral response. “Right, Sasuke?” Naruto tried again, this time with an elbow to Sasuke’s ribs.

Sasuke rolled his eyes, “The beast is probably weaker than it was twenty years ago else why would it bother to hide. This will be easy.”

“See,” Naruto perked up. “Nothing to worry about, Sakura!”

Sakura sighed. “Okay, fine. Let’s go.”

 

The three traveled for a few more hours before stopping to make camp for the night. They stopped a little ways away from the road, close to a small creek. Sasuke and Sakura both began to gather materials for a small fire.

Meanwhile Naruto walked deeper into the woods to relieve himself. He enjoyed the sounds of nature around him, the rustling of leaves in the wind, the chirping of birds startled from their nests, the distant gurgle of water, a squirrel scurrying up a tree as Naruto passed, the general buzz of pure life all around. Naruto would have to say that the best part of being a ninja was the traveling. Sure the missions with the fights and secrecy were exciting but the journey to and fro was were it was all at. The anticipation of adventure Naruto felt whenever he started a new mission had him almost bouncing with excitement and the satisfaction he felt when coming home was a feeling that could not be replicated. If the mission wasn’t time sensitive, Naruto would find himself walking the roads in peace instead of flying through the trees.

A sudden puff of air next to his ear jolted Naruto out of his thoughts and nearly made him piss himself where he stood. “Oh my god Sasuke! Don’t do that!” Naruto said as he grimaced and rubbed his ear.

“Do what moron?” Sasuke asked as he proceeded to do it again.

“Thaaaat!” Naruto shivered, turned around, and backed up against a tree, which was a bad idea since Sasuke followed and trapped him there. Wasn’t he supposed to be at camp?

“Naruto,” Sasuke breathed out. Naruto snapped his eyes to Sasuke’s at his wistful tone. “I miss you.”

Naruto knit his eyebrows in confusion. “What are you talking about? We’re together right now?”

Sasuke ignored him. “Please, wake up soon.” He then leaned forward and placed a soft kiss on Naruto’s forehead. When Naruto opened his eyes that he didn’t know he had closed, Sasuke was gone and Naruto still had to pee.

When Naruto made it back to camp he couldn’t help but stare at Sasuke. Sasuke cocked an eyebrow in silent question.

“Why’d you follow me?” Naruto asked.

Sasuke’s eyebrow cocked higher in further question.

“When I went to pee.”

“I didn’t?” Sasuke finally replied.

“Yeah. Sasuke was here the whole time Naruto,” Sakura added.

“Okay,” Naruto frowned. “Maybe I’m hallucinating or something. Whatever.” Naruto let the topic drop.

Later that night, Naruto felt a soothing hand on his forehead. “Wake up Naruto,” Sakura whispered. When Naruto opened his eyes, he only saw the stars of the night sky peeking through the leaves of surrounding trees. Sakura was lying on the other side of the small clearing. Naruto shrugged and turned on his spot of ground. He must have been hearing things.

 

_“I heard that talking to him and having the radio or television on will help stimulate his brain. Maybe it’ll help him wake up?”_

_beep_

_“Hn.”_

_beep_

_“Now for the 5 o’clock news. Police are still investigating the metro accident that occurred two days ago…”_

_beep_

_“The investigators guess that it might have been a small power outage that reset the train timers that caused the accident…”_

_beep_

_“The number of casualties is still uncertain but those submitted to the hospital are reported to be in stable condition...”_

_beep_

_“The president will be holding a press conference on…”_

_beep_

_“Sakura. Change the channel.”_

_beep_

_“Yeah…”_

Naruto woke with a start. He was definitely hearing things.

 

The trip to the Kyuubi no Yoko’s location continued on like that. Sasuke and Sakura were both acting weird. They would appear out of nowhere and scare the living daylights out of Naruto only to deny it ever happened when he questioned them. If Naruto didn’t know the two better he would have been suspicious of some elaborate prank.

And then there were the dreams. Every time Naruto closed his eyes he would see flashes of a large city. Tall grey buildings reached into the sky almost never ending. Loud, busy roads full of people. He would hear voices too. They were muffled but he recognized most of them – Sasuke’s, Sakura’s, Tsunade’s, Kiba’s… They always had the same tone: sad, longing, melancholic. Naruto suspected genjutsu but nothing ever happened when he tried to release. He then decided that they all must have eaten something weird.

Unlike usual, Naruto couldn’t wait to get the mission done. Maybe he was just tired from the back-to-back missions. A couple days of rest and he should be ready to go. No strange dreams. And maybe Sasuke and Sakura will go back to normal too. He’ll have to ask Tsunade for a break when they got back.

 

19 years, ? month, ? weeks, ? days, ? hours, ? minutes, ? seconds old.

Naruto walked into the cave emitting the Kyuubi no Yoko’s chakra flanked by Sasuke and Sakura.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This would have been out sooner but I started actually reading Naruto starting from chapter 1. Don't get me wrong. I've watched Naruto up until the saving Gaara arc in Shippuden and then I loosely followed the manga. I just thought that since it's summer it's high time I actually get around to reading all of it straight through. Currently at Kakashi Gaiden.  
> There will be one more part to this story.  
> Thank you for reading.


	3. Another Destiny

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Last Chapter.

19 years, ? month, ? weeks, ? days, ? hours, ? minutes, ? seconds old.

Naruto looked around in alarm. The moment he stepped into the Kyuubi no Yoko’s cave, Sasuke and Sakura disappeared. He was about to run back out when a whisper stopped him.

“ _You won’t find them. This is your fight and your fight only. They’ve done all they can. It’s up to you now.”_

The voice was right. Naruto didn’t know how he knew but only he could take down the Kyuubi no Yoko. It was like he was the Chosen One, the Hero, the Savior. Naruto steeled himself and walked further into the cave.

He didn’t have to walk far before he noticed an immense rise in power. The air was saturated with the beast’s chakra. It was like walking through syrup, every step was getting harder and harder to take but Naruto pursued on. He wouldn’t give up.

 

_“It’s impossible.”_

_“You’ll die.”_

_“If you don’t wake up soon…”_

_“Naruto! Please! Wake up!”_

_“Maybe it’s his fate.”_

_“Only he has the power...”_

_“It’s up to him now.”_

_“We can only wait.”_

_“He’s running out of time.”_

_“Please… come back…”_

_“Naruto…”_

_Beep… beep… beep… beep… beep… beep… beep… bee-_

 

Naruto ignored the roar of voices. He needed to concentrate on the upcoming fight he could feel approaching. The passage way opened up to a huge cavern. Naruto had to squint to see the details of the ceiling. Heat radiated from the walls and from the large being lying curled in the middle of the room.

“Kyuubi no Yoko!” Naruto’s yell echoed off the walls. The giant red fox didn’t even stir. Naruto yelled again and this time the fox lazily opened an eyelid only to shut it once more after giving Naruto a once over.

“Shoo. Go away. I was having a good dream,” the fox mumbled.

“Kyuubi no Yoko!” Naruto shouted again.

“I have a name you know? Kurama.”

Naruto wasn’t listening as he created a handful of shadow clones and charged toward the fox. Kurama sighed and stood up. It flared its chakra and the clones dispersed. That did not deter Naruto as he created another ten clones to be destroyed by the beast. Naruto did it again and again, never making it within ten feet of Kurama. Finally Naruto made one more clone that dissipated instantly before falling to his knees exhausted.

Kurama raised a furry eyebrow. “You done kid?”

 

_“Impossible…”_

Naruto dragged himself up from the ground with determination in his eyes. He could do this. He had to. People were counting on him. He had to complete the mission. Naruto raised his hands and created more shadow clones. One of Kurama’s tails swiped out in front of it and destroyed the clones and sent Naruto to the ground.

“You can’t kill me kid.”

“But I have to,” Naruto said, struggling to stand. His breath was heavy, his vision blurry. Despite his large chakra reserves, he was dangerously running low. He needed to rest for a bit or he wouldn’t make it out alive.

“Is this something that you absolutely _have_ to do or is this something that you just _want_ to do?

“I-“ Naruto started, taken aback. He had to do it because it was a mission and his duty to the village, but he also wanted to do it because he was a ninja. That was his path he had chosen and he was gong to stick with it. “Both.”

Kurama swished its tails lazily, sending small gusts of wind around the cavern, almost knocking Naruto over. “And what have I done to deserve death?”

Naruto clenched his fists together and bristled. “You attacked Konoha.”

“That was forever ago. Don’t you think I might have learned my lesson? What have I done since?” Kurama’s voiced boomed with a tired chuckle.

“You’re radiating chakra and freaking people out.”

“Well sorry for being a sentient mass of chakra. Sometimes I can’t help it.”

Naruto was confused. He humored Kurama at first because he really needed the rest but he didn’t expect to be having a conversation like this. Kurama didn’t look like it really wanted to fight. It looked tired and maybe a little bored. And it was true that the villagers were just startled. The amount of chakra that Kurama was emitting was enough that even an untrained civilian could feel it.

“ _If necessary, eliminate the Kyuubi no Yoko_ …” wasn’t that what Tsunade said?

It didn’t seem necessary if Kurama could be trusted. Technically, the beast was right about how it had not harmed anyone besides the hostile ninja that have come after him. From the power Naruto could feel radiating from the beast, Kurama had no reason to hole himself in a secluded cave on the outskirts of the Land of Fire. It seemed perfectly capable of razing the nearby village and other surroundings to the ground in its sleep. But here it was chilling in a cave sleeping.

“So…” Naruto began cautiously. “If I don’t kill you, what will you do when I leave?”

“Well I was in the middle of a really good nap…” Kurama replied.

“And then after that?”  
“I’m not going to go on a rampage if that’s what you’re asking. I’m over those. Not as fun as they used to be.”

Naruto crossed his arms and stared hard at the chakra beast. Kurama continued to swish his tails and stared back. “Do you promise?” Naruto’s voice rang out quietly.

Kurama rolled its eyes, “Yeah, yeah I promise.”

“Fine then…” Naruto scratched the back of his neck awkwardly. If he didn’t have to fight Kurama, what was he to do then? He needed to find Sasuke and Sakura…Report back to Tsunade…Request a break… “I’ll just…leave then.”

Just as Naruto turned to leave, Kurama’s voice stopped him. “Hey, let me help you kid. You know, for not fruitlessly trying to kill me. You’ve been hearing voices and seeing things right?”

“Huh? How’d you know?” Naruto turned to fully face Kurama again.

“Psychic,” Kurama laughed and Naruto made a face. “I can help you, but you have to be willing.”

“How can you help me?”

“I can wake you up.”

“Wake up? From what? Genjutsu?” Naruto wondered aloud. “I already tried to dispel it multiple times.”

“No,” Kurama’s laugh boomed again. Naruto frowned. It seemed the fox thought the whole ordeal was hilarious. “From yourself.”

Naruto knitted his brows together and eloquently said again, “Huh?”

“I’ll show you. Sit.”

Naruto sat crisscross on the ground before Kurama. “Close your eyes,” Kurama’s voice murmured. Naruto did as instructed. He could feel one of Kurama’s tails gently engulf him in a soft embrace. “Focus your chakra to the center of your body… Breathe.”

Naruto sat with Kurama’s tails wrapped around him for an indefinite amount of time. His mind began to wonder. He wondered where Sasuke and Sakura were. Maybe they couldn’t enter the cave, but if it were a weekday, Sasuke would probably be at wherever it was he was interning at. Sakura would probably be helping out at the hospital. It wasn’t really cold outside for some reason, but Christmas was coming up and he still needed to shop for everyone. He had to remember to ask Tsunade for a break from missions. He also needed to start packing for the trip he and Sasuke were going on right after Christmas and through New Years. Then there was school starting up again. There was so much to do…

“Now wake,” Kurama’s voice drifted into Naruto’s thoughts. And Naruto did.

 

19 years…

beep

2 months…

beep

2 weeks…

beep

5 days…

beep

17 hours…

beep

42 minutes…

beep

5…

beep

6…

beep

7 seconds old…

beep

 …and Naruto opened his eyes to an unfamiliar white ceiling.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope that last part (the one with Naruto thinking) wasn't too confusing. It was supposed to be a mixture of dream world/real world stuff but I'm not too confident in its execution.  
> I'm not too pleased how this turned out, but oh well. I can focus on other things now. I have a time travel, a SI, and a couple miscellaneous stories that I want to write but have held back because I wanted to finish this. What to write first though...  
> Originally I planned to have Naruto keep on fighting Kurama and then never wake up, but I felt that Naruto likes to reason with his enemies too much for that to happen so it didn't.  
> High five to anyone who gets the last line's reference.  
> Thank you for reading all the way through.


End file.
